On June 1, 2016, in the southern district of Texas Federal Court, United HealthCare administered self-insured ERISA plan, AT&T Inc. and its Plan AdministratorLarry Ruzickawere sued in federal court. According to the complaint: “This dispute arises out of Defendants’ ongoing and systematic ERISA violations consisting of an elaborate scheme to abstract, withhold, embezzle and convert self-insured Plan Assets “.

An almost identical separate suit was filed against another United HealthCare administered health plan, GAP Inc. less than 30 days before this case was filed. According to industry experts, more and more CEO’s, CFO’s and Plan Administrators areexposed to tremendous liabilitiesdue to poorly managed or “Head in the Sand” monitoring practices. As we have written about and predicted, this is evidence of the growing trend of self-insured health plans being exposed to tremendous liability by TPAs.

One of the serious problems these cases present to the self-insured health plans is inaccuracies on the Form 5500/Tax filings. ERISA requires IRSForm 5500reporting to be accurate. AT&T, GAP Inc. and others may be reporting incorrect amounts on direct and indirect compensation, for example, based on the alleged facts of these cases.

These cases also illustrate an ironic twist, in many cases, the ASO agreements prohibit the plan from auditing the claims that the TPA’s are paying on behalf of the self-insured plan, which on its face, seems to be a remarkably absurd clause that any plan sponsor would agree to sign.

The Court Case Info:RedOak Hospital, LLC v. AT&T Inc., AT&T Savings and Security Plan and Larry Ruzicka, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, Case 4:16-cv-01542, Filed on 06/01/16.

According to court documents, REDOAK Hospital Plaintiff filed a DOL EBSA Complaint on the alleged overpayment offset by the Defendants Plan, and the plan’s co-fiduciary, UHC, prior to filling this ERISA lawsuit, alleging:

“This dispute arises out of [AT&T’s]ongoing and systematic ERISA violations consisting of an elaborate scheme to abstract, withhold, embezzle and convert self-insured Plan Assets that were approved and allegedly paid to Plaintiff for Plaintiff’s claim, to purportedly, but impermissibly, satisfy a falsely alleged overpayment‖ for another stranger claim, especially when the stranger is a plan beneficiary of a fully-insured plan that is insured by the Plan’s co-fiduciary, United Healthcare (hereinafter, “United”).[AT&T] knew or should have known that the Plan’s overpayment recovery provisions cannot be triggered until there is an allegation of overpayment by the Plan to the Plan Beneficiary subject to this action, and that converting the Plan Assets by a fiduciary or co-fiduciary of the Plan, in this case United, to the use of another, and ultimately its own use, to pay to its own account is absolutely prohibited under ERISA statutes. [AT&T] and United have conspired and engaged in many other embezzlement schemes, including, but not limited to, making deductions on entitled claim payments through the misrepresentation that a Viant/Multiplan contract is in place with Plaintiff; this action is only challenging the cross-plan offset embezzlement scheme discussed in detail below.”, accordingto court documents.

According to RedOak attorney Ebadullah Khan, this and the Gap Inc. case represent the first of many more cases the hospital intends to bring for the same alleged violations. Kahntold Law360, “Prior to seeking judicial review for this case, RedOak Hospital had exhausted any and all internal/administrative appeal requirements,” Khan went on to say, “The cross-plan offset practice at issue in this case is the most common form of denial for RedOak Hospital, and as a result RedOak Hospital is preparing to file approximately 100 more cases similar to this AT&T complaint.”

As we have accurately predicted, the No. 1 health care claim denial in the country today is the overpayment recoupment and claims-offset. Correspondingly, for self-insured health plans, the No. 1 hidden cost is overpayment recoupment and plan assets embezzlement and until the courts offer guidance on the practice of cross plan offsetting, we will continue to see many more cases such as these from providers all across the country. Additionally, should the courts weigh in and bar the practice, will self-insured plan sponsors, like AT&T and Gap Inc. be held liable for these ERISA violations and be removed from serving as fiduciaries.

There are billions of healthcare dollars at stake, according to industry estimates. Overall, overpayment recoveries initiated by the large carriers have reached into the billions of dollars over the past 5 to 7 years. Yet, self-insured health plans have not reaped the benefits of successful overpayment recoupments.

Consequently, recoupment through offsetting, when used as an anti-fraud initiative, has become an increasingly popular source of revenue for insurers. While there is a need for anti-fraud initiatives in healthcare today, it is critical that every health plan comply with all applicable federal laws, ERISA and PPACA claims regulations, as well as statutory fiduciary duties. Insurers and Health Plans must comply with all applicable federal laws, ERISA and PPACA claims regulations, as well as statutory fiduciary duties before recouping one single dollar.

Over the past 6 years, Avym has closely followed decisions from the Supreme Court and federal appeals courts on ERISA prohibited self-dealing against ERISA plan TPA’s for managed care savings.

Avym Corp. has advocated for ERISA plan assets audit and embezzlement recovery education and consulting. With new Supreme Court guidance on ERISA anti-fraud protection, we are ready to assist all self-insured plans recover billions of dollars of self-insured plan assets, on behalf of hard-working Americans. To find out more about Avym Corporation’s Fiduciary Overpayment Recovery Specialist (FOR) and Fiduciary Overpayment Recovery Contractor (FORC) programs clickhere.

Comment

Hello,
It was a real pleasure reading this article. As a Forensic Auditor working within the medical industry, I see this happening more often than you would dare think. Another issue of concern is the withholding of deductibles and co-insurance after the patient has met their annual benefits responsibilities. I have in my office more than during the time span of 2013 -2014 Aetna was responsible for withholding more than $2 Million, that I have supporting documents for. My office has been speaking with Aetna about this for more than 2 years to no avail.

If at all possible look into that issue, I think you would be mortified.